Many folks
have several reasons for not wanting to live in San Francisco.
City voters there have just added another ­ they have just voted
to ban handguns and require that they be turned in.

This is a
good law to disobey. After all, the city gun ban violates the
state preemption law, not to mention the U.S. Constitution. In
other words, the new law is illegal. It is an act of lawlessness.

San Franciscans
have shown just how detached from reality is their socialist world
view. Their vote to disarm themselves follows on the heels of
the lesson that even Bill O’Reilly learned from Katrina. The popular
Fox TV host, no gunslinger, he seems to have had an epiphany in
the lawlessness (official and otherwise) in New Orleans.

"Once I saw
what happened in Hurricane Katrina,” O’Reilly opined. “I said
every American household should have a firearm. If there's a tremendous
earthquake in San Francisco and looting, you don't want your family
protected? You don't want a firearm in your house? You're living
in the world of Oz."

It may be
asking too much of San Francisco voters, but did they notice the
helplessness of the average Frenchman in the face of the French
government’s refusal to deal with rioters? The mostly disarmed
citizenry could do nothing but watch their cities burn while Muslim
thugs chanted “Allahu Akhbar!”

Of course,
I may be missing the key factor here. San Franciscans may be visualizing
that no natural disaster will take place there ­ such as an earthquake.
Will they call 911 at such a time?

Actually,
try calling 911 anytime you are being attacked. If you can make
the call, you may get to leave a recording of your victimization.
Then, when the police come, all they will have to do is clean
up the mess.

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Will they
ever “get it”? Or will they continue to overlook Katrina, Paris,
and the lawlessness that terrorizes the residents of Washington,
DC and Chicago, IL? They banned guns in those cities, too. If
San Francisco’s law were to stay on the books, which it probably
will not, they will enter into competition with Washington and
Chicago for the dubious distinction of being the crime capital
of the country.

Larry Pratt has been Executive Director of Gun
Owners of America for 27 years. GOA is a national membership organization
of 300,000 Americans dedicated to promoting their second amendment freedom
to keep and bear arms.

GOA lobbies for the pro-gun position in Washington
and is involved in firearm issues in the states. GOA's work includes providing
legal assistance to those involved in lawsuits with the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms, the federal firearms law enforcement agency.

Pratt has appeared on numerous national radio
and TV programs such as NBC's Today Show, CBS' Good Morning America, CNN's
Crossfire and Larry King Live, Fox's Hannity & Colmes, MSNBC's Phil Donahue
show and many others. He has debated Congressmen James Traficant, Jr.
(D-OH), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Senator Frank
Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Vice President Al Gore, among others. His columns
have appeared in newspapers across the country.

He published a book, Armed People Victorious,
in 1990 and was editor of a book, Safeguarding Liberty: The Constitution
& Militias, 1995. His latest book, On the Firing Line: Essays in the Defense
of Liberty was published in 2001.

Pratt has held elective office in the state legislature
of Virginia, serving in the House of Delegates. Pratt directs a number
of other public interest organizations and serves as the Vice-Chairman
of the American Institute for Cancer Research.